Michele Heenan Salisbury

Published 3:16 pm Thursday, July 3, 2025

Michele Heenan Salisbury, 80, formerly of Bowling Green, Kentucky, died in her home in Denver, Colorado on May 2, 2025, with her family by her side.

Michele was born on November 10, 1944 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the eldest child of Ada May and Charles T. Heenan. She grew up in Olean, NY and graduated from Olean High School in 1962. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from University of Wisconsin in 1966, a Masters degree in Spanish Literature from the University of Kansas in 1969.

After moving to Bowling Green in 1976 with her family, Michele pursued a career in nursing, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from Western Kentucky University and a Masters in nursing from Vanderbilt University. Finally, in 1993, she obtained her Ph.D in Nursing from the University of Texas at the age of 49. She used her education and degrees well throughout her life in the service of others. She was a practicing nurse, working in the labor and delivery and neonatal units at the Medical Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky for over a decade and then later taught nursing for over twenty-five years at the college level, first at Western Kentucky University and then at Vanderbilt University.

In 2013, Michele retired from Vanderbilt and moved from Bowling Green, Kentucky to live near her grandchildren in Denver, Colorado. Michele threw herself whole-heartedly into her new Colorado life and lived there independently until the time of her death. In her retirement, she was active in her community, and traveled extensively throughout the Southwestern United States as well as to over a dozen countries, ranging from Cuba to Finland to Argentina.

Michele is survived by her daughter, Jennifer Salisbury, and her husband Lee Davis, of Lakewood, CO; her son John Azbill-Salisbury and his husband, Scott, of Minneapolis, MN; and her son Michael Salisbury, and his wife Kelly Miller, of Lakewood, CO; as well as her brothers Sean and Thomas Heenan and her sister Gabrielle Heenan; and her grandchildren Luke, Patrick and Aaron Davis and Anson and Aviana Salisbury. She is predeceased by her mother and father, Ada May and Charles Heenan, and her husband, Richard Salisbury.

A visitation is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 12th from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at the Christ Episcopal Church at 1215 State St in Bowling Green, KY.